The Year in Running: 2014

Dec 11, 2014

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Michael Dwyer/AP/Corbis

Story of the Year

BOSTON STRONGER

The outcomes of the 2014 Boston Marathon speak for themselves: 32,458 starters; 1 million spectators; a record $38.4 million raised by charity runners; the first American male champion in more than 30 years. But it was the incalculable significance of a city united--the animate wave of emotion that came to life in the predawn hours in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, and surged through the streets of Boston long after the last runner exited the course--that will stand as the true measure of April 21, 2014.

Police commissioner (and 14-time Boston marathoner) Billy Evans could be seen wearing a tight grin on Commonwealth Avenue, monitoring a law enforcement presence that was at once ubiquitous and invisible. Celeste Corcoran, a year after losing both legs in the bombings, crossed the finish line hand-in-hand with her sister and daughter. In July, Jeff Bauman, who also lost both legs last year, and his marathoning fiancee, Erin Hurley, welcomed their first child, a girl.

One first name was on each corner of the race bib: Martin. Krystle. Sean. Lingzi. The four people killed in the 2013 Boston attack. In the middle was another: MEB. As he charged down Boylston, the man wearing the bib looked anxiously over his shoulder as observers on the street and around the world screamed, "Go, go, go!" Then Meb Keflezighi, 38 years old during the race, who just five years after becoming the first American man to win the New York City Marathon in 27 years, became the first American man to win Boston in 31 years. His 2:08:37 finish was also a 31-second PR.

In an off year for track--no Olympics, no Worlds--Simpson refused to be ignored. At the Prefontaine Classic in May she set a 1500-meter PR of 3:58.28, then held off Mary Cain to win her first national 1500 title at the U.S. Outdoors in June. Six days later she placed second at the Paris Diamond League meet and lowered her PR to 3:57.22--a tenth of a second from Mary Decker Slaney's 31-year-old U.S. record. In August, at the Zurich DL meet, she won the 1500 by a hair and became the second nonsprinter American ever to win a DL points title.

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Tim Bower

Study of the Year

FIVE MINUTES A DAY

In August, the Journal of the American College of Cardiology published a landmark paper concluding that running even five to 10 minutes a day at less than 10 minutes per mile "is associated with markedly reduced risks of death from all causes." No kidding!

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Corbis Images

Movie of the Year

UNBROKEN

Okay, so it's not out yet, but no 2014 film has us more excited than Angelina Jolie's adaptation of the Laura Hillenbrand book about Olympic track star and war hero Louie Zamperini. The Christmas Day premiere will be bittersweet, as Zamperini died on July 2 at age 97. But we can't think of a better way to end 2014 than to reflect on the man's incredible life.

If you've ever been out running and achieved an indescribable rhythm--flawless mechanics, a sharpened focus, an almost out-of-body clarity--you've likely experienced what Steven Kotler calls flow. Profiling elite "fringe" athletes from surfers to free-climbers, he argues that greatness is as much about breaking mental barriers as physical ones. (He notes it took nine years for the mile WR to go from 4:01.4 to Roger Bannister's 3:59.4, but only two months to get to 3:58.) And with training, Kotler contends, you, too, can master flow.

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AP/ Image of Sport

Teens of the Year

FIERCE FEMALES

Mary Cain, 18, (center) continued her meteoric rise as the next great American distance runner, as she claimed gold in a dominant 3000-meter victory at the World Junior Championships in Eugene, Oregon, in July.

But reigning Nike Cross Nationals champ Alexa Efraimson, 17, (left) is hot on her heels; she broke Cain's 3000-meter national high school record in February and joined Cain as a Nike-sponsored athlete in August.

And (relatively) longtime Cain foil Sarah Baxter, 18 (right) can't be forgotten either; the two-time Nike Cross Nationals champ, who lost only one cross-country race in high school, began her freshman season as the University of Oregon's prize distance recruit.

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Tim Clayton/ Chessie Photo/ AP

Kid Runners of the Year

10-YEAR-OLDS

It's a great time to be a 10-year-old runner. In May, Noah Bliss (right) of Kenosha broke the age-group record with a 1:36 at the Wisconsin Half Marathon.

His record fell weeks later, however, when Reinhardt Harrison (center) ran a 1:35 at the Alexandria Running Festival half. (Both records were displaced by a 1:34:53 run by 10-year-old Hunter Perez in 2013; his time wasn't made official until 2014.)

Then there's Jonah Gorevic (left) of Rye, New York, who broke the mile record for 10-year-olds with a 5:01 at the Adidas Grand Prix. And watch out for Will Stone of Largo, Florida: He smashed the 13.1 record for 9-year-olds that had held since 1984 with a 1:41 at February's Gasparilla Distance Classic. We're not sure how to feel about all of this, other than old. And slow.

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Race Trends of the Year (Part 1)

WHEELS OF DELIGHT

Environmentally friendly? Check. Fewer traffic jams? Check. Speedy postrace shuttling for runners? Check. This year's Beach to Beacon 10K in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, was one of several races that featured bike services. At the point-to-point B2B (pictured), runners could cycle to the finish, take a bus to the starting line, and ride home at the end of their race, bypassing the postevent traffic crush. The LA Marathon offered bike valets this year, and San Francisco has been doing it since 2008. Next year the Portland Rock 'n' Roll half will join the club. Sore legs versus exhaust fumes and gridlock? Consider us down to ride.

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Race Trends of the Year (Part 2)

PHOTO FINISHERS

2014 was a good look for the San Francisco Marathon. Already an early adopter in bike valets, this year it became the first big-city race to offer runners free race photos via a partnership with Gameface Media. (The Portland Shamrock Run and the Warrior Dash series also offer this service.) Here's how it works: A sponsor, such as a shoe company, foots the bill and has its logo printed on all race photos--which runners can claim online and download for free (or order prints for a fee). It's a simple, ingenious solution to an age-old gripe--ugh, those overpriced "PROOF" images--that begs the question, What took so long?

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Alaska Stock/Alamy

Comeback of the Year

GRIZZLY ENCOUNTER

In May, Jessica Gamboa, 25, experienced a runner's worst nightmare: She found herself between a grizzly bear and her cub. The mother of one and wife of an Army soldier--she was running on a military base in Anchorage--was charged by the bear, picked up, tossed, pummeled, and bitten. The bear eventually lost interest, and Gamboa credits her survival to playing dead. She had deep bite marks across her back, claw marks on one leg, and neck lacerations that were near-fatal--but three months later, despite serious pain, she finished Sacramento's Run on the Sly Half Marathon in 3:05. In the best use of a cliche ever, she told Sacramento's KRCA: "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

The apparel company has made a name for itself punching above its weight class. Sales of less than $10 million didn't keep Oiselle from signing Olympian Kara Goucher or from thumbing its nose at Goliath--Oiselle got a cease-and-desist letter from USATF for an Instagram Photoshop that swapped the logo of the national team's sponsor for the individual sponsor logos of four athletes. The company, founded in 2007, has emphasized support of elites who may interrupt careers to start families, and has distinguished itself as a brand made by women, for women.

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Fashion Review of the Year

THE RUNSIE

As for the running onesie that Lululemon unveiled in July, our wear-tester, RW Writer at Large Mark Remy, had some concerns about how the one-piece, shirt-and-shorts combo might complicate bathroom breaks. (You can view his entire review of the outfit here.)

Although she came up short in both attempts, Shalane Flanagan dared to set lofty goals for herself--to win the Boston Marathon and to break the U.S. women's marathon record. She achieved neither, but hardly failed: In a Boston heavy with emotion, the hometown hero led from the gun and, for the next 20 miles, set a scorching pace that would tee up Rita Jeptoo's course record. (Jeptoo would later fail a drug test in September.) Flanagan finished seventh, but her time of 2:22:02 was a three-minute, 36-second PR and the fastest Boston ever by an American woman.

Flanagan then turned to the flat-and-fast Berlin Marathon and Deena Kastor's U.S. record, a feat that would require another three-minute PR. She went out at a ferocious pace, good enough to set the American 25K record along the way, but fell short of the ultimate mark. She still managed to PR in 2:21:14 and vault past her mentor Joan Benoit Samuelson to become the second-fastest U.S. woman ever.

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Controversy of the Year

USATF RULINGS

In February, the U.S. Indoor Nationals were marred by two erroneous disqualifications, one of which invited speculation regarding Nike coach Alberto Salazar's influence over the rulings. In that case, an official flagged contact between eventual 3000-meter champ Gabriele Grunewald and Salazar's athlete Jordan Hasay (shown in picture). A referee decided no interference had occurred, and that decision was upheld. But then officials viewed higher-quality video and reversed the decision--DQing Grunewald and elevating Hasay to third place and a spot on the world indoors team. Two days later, after fan and athlete uproar--fueled by suspicion that a visibly heated Salazar bullied officials--Salazar withdrew his appeal and Grunewald was reinstated as the winner.

The other DQ came in the men's 3000, when another Salazar athlete, Galen Rupp, was bumped by Ryan Hill. Somehow Andrew Bumbalough--who finished eighth--was identified as the offender and disqualified, but the DQ was later taken back by the USATF.

Dennis Kimetto of Kenya set the new world marathon record at the Berlin Marathon in a time of 2:02:57, eclipsing Wilson Kipsang's old mark by 26 seconds. Second-place finisher Emmanuel Mutai also dipped below the previous world record—reigniting debate of when someone will run a sub-2:00 marathon.

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Rodolfo Gonzalez and James Nielsen

Beer Miles of the Year

BEER CHAMPIONS

This year we also celebrate James Nielsen (right) for smashing the beer mile world record with a time of 4:57 in April. This set off added interest in the beer chugging and running event, and Flotrack.org held a first of its kind Beer Mile World Championship this December in Austin, Texas. There, Elizabeth Herndon (left) of Kent, Ohio, claimed the women's beer mile record by 11 seconds with a time of 6:17:76—bettering the previous mark set by Chris Kimbrough, a 44-year-old mother of six who set the previous record a month earlier.

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Under-the-Radar Records of the Year

CRAZY ACHIEVEMENTS

In other record-breaking news, 63-year-old Jon Sutherland extended his U.S. daily running streak mark to 45 years and two days; 91-year-old Harriette Thompson (pictured) ran the San Diego Marathon in 7:07:42 for the fastest time on record by a woman age 90 or older; Tyler Andrews broke a world record with a 1:07 half marathon on a treadmill while British ultrarunner Phil Anthony set the 100K record on a treadmill in 6:40:45; and Olympic double gold medalist Mo Farah set a Guinness World Record by hopping 100 meters in 39.91 seconds--in a potato sack.

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Levi Brown

Diet Trend of the Year

PALEO

The Paleo diet--high protein, low carbs, nothing processed--is not new, but this year its popularity reached a critical mass. (None other than LeBron James adopted it this summer, leading to immediate, controversial weight loss.) The debate over whether or not it is right for runners has been especially contentious. Doctors acknowledge potential health benefits--the diet emphasizes vegetables, fruit, nuts, and grass-fed meat--but agree that a strict Paleo diet is too low in carbs for runners with intense training programs. The upshot? It's not a bad way to cut back on refined sugars, alcohol, and junk food--but carb-starved runners should consider cheating for mid- and postrun fueling.

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Racing Busts of the Year

BUYER BEWARE

In the wake of increased complaints about themed races being canceled without refunds, the Better Business Bureau issued a statement in July advising people to exercise caution before signing up for such races. Last fall, The Great American Mud Run series went out of business, and this June the Electric-Foam 5K followed suit. Some established series have flourished, though, and in August Forbes reported that Tough Mudder, The Color Run, and Spartan Race continue to drive the growth of running's popularity. But that Soap-Bubble Neon Vampire 5K Rave-a-thon next month? You might want to save yourself the headache--and the registration fee.

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Reuters/ Kim Ludbrook/ Pool

Trial of the Year

OSCAR PISTORIUS

The murder trial of South African Olympian Oscar Pistorius played out like bad reality television. As the details of his 2013 shooting of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp were examined on live television, the trial was interrupted by Pistorius vomiting and sobbing uncontrollably. In September, he was found not guilty of the most serious murder charges but was convicted of culpable homicide (similar to manslaughter). He was sentenced in October to a maximum of five years in prison.

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Tech Movement of the Year

THE WATCH

Apple was not the first tech company to enter the smartwatch fray, but it's a big deal when the reigning industry heavyweight unveils a brand-new product. For runners, that's especially true with the Apple Watch, which CEO Tim Cook described as "a comprehensive health and fitness device."

Available in early 2015 (from $349), it will track everyday activities (walking, sitting, standing), workouts, heart rate, and fitness goals, and features an array of other phonelike capabilities. It remains to be seen if the Apple Watch and/or its competitors will succeed in the marketplace, but one thing is certain: The future of tech is in wearables, and that's a good thing for runners.

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